Tuesday, November 13, 2012

"Almost as cool as a Cup ring, am I right?" joked
Joe Sakic right before the uncomfortable silence.

In a welcome break from the never-ending CBA negotiations, last night saw a positive NHL story: the induction of the four newest members of the Hockey Hall of Fame. During an evening of celebration in Toronto, the Hall welcomed Joe Sakic, Mats Sundin, Adam Oates and Pavel Bure to its ranks.

DGB spies were in attendance, and reported back on some of the most common things heard during the evening's festivities.

Uh oh, Mats Sundin has become confused and disoriented. Pavel Bure stood beside him for a few seconds, and it was the first time he'd ever had a decent winger next to him.

Joe Sakic's speech tonight was incredibly gracious without a hint of negativity, which is a nice change from that time they tried inducting him into the international snowblowing hall of fame.

Is it just me, or is Adam Oates asking Bure a lot of oddly specific questions about the best way to deal with overly cocky Russian snipers?

Did you hear, Brendan Shanahan just suspended the entire Hall of Fame induction committee! No, really, they're all dangling from a frayed rope under the 401 overpass.

It's so embarrassing when somebody shows up at one of these gala events wearing way too much makeup and you just … oh, sorry Mr. Bure, I didn't realize that your lips always looked like that.

Ladies and gentleman, we've just been informed that somebody asked Mats Sundin if he wanted a tic-tac, so we'll be taking a brief five-hour intermission while we all wait for him to make up his mind.

Gary Bettman and Donald Fehr are trying to improve their image tonight by collecting food for the poor, or at least I assume that's why so many fans are holding rotten vegetables while mumbling about how they can't wait for those two to show up.

They just presented Sakic with an incredibly rare piece of hockey memorabilia: video footage of that one time his wrist shot missed the top corner.

Kind of an uncomfortable moment just now when the Oilers sent a telegram congratulating the inductee who ended his career playing for Edmonton, and all four guys just stared at each other trying to remember which one of them it was.

It's weird, every time we try to find a new spot for Oates on the wall of honorees the two guys on either side of them have the career goals listed on their plaque go up by a few hundred.

Cool, I just bought this awesome collector's edition framed photo titled "Long-time NHL Captains Who Played in Quebec City For a Few Years" featuring Mats Sundin, Joe Sakic and a confused Shane Doan.

Pat Quinn just told some young hockey fans who were sad about the lockout to keep their head up, which was cute until Bobby Orr showed up and whispered "No, trust me, do what he says or you won't wake up for a week."

To be honest, it was a little bit awkward when Bure was making his way to the podium for one of the biggest moments of his entire life and Mike Richter sprawled across and stopped him out of force of habit.

My favorite part of Sundin's acceptance speech was when he began it by stepping up to the microphone, yelling "PING!" and then pointing and laughing at all the Senator fans who started crying.

Well yes, Bure did establish himself as a star in Vancouver and Florida before seeing his career end disappointingly with a struggling original six team, but I'm not sure he's available to give you career advice right now, Mr. Luongo.

The rules say you need to have been inactive for three consecutive seasons before you can be inducted into the Hall of Fame, so it's going to be a tough vote in 2015 when the entire NHL is eligible.

1993: Alexandre Daigle, Ottawa Senators – His often-criticized prediction that nobody would ever remember the player picked second in that year’s draft turned out to be correct, given that many players who encountered Chris Pronger during his career reported not remembering anything at all afterwards.

From Nobody remembers number two: A history of first overall draft picks, one of 24 chapters of brand new material available exclusively in The Best of Down Goes Brown.

One of Sundin's most memorable goals was in the 2001 playoffs against Ottawa, when he scored an overtime goal from the blue line that rang so loud off the post it echoed throughout the entire arena. DPG actually posted the goal on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rxdky7ycccg

Brendan Shanahan has long campaigned for Adam Oates to be enshrined in the HHOF. Were it not for Oates pouting his way out of St. Louis, Shanahan would never have met his wife, whose maiden name was "Mrs. Craig Janney."